Charly
I’m admiring the gorgeous Fendi hanging from the shoulder of the woman walking in front of me when my cell starts ringing from inside my knockoff Stella McCartney.
I retrieve it from the bottom of my bag, expecting it to be Nick—my roommate and best friend since college—but see that it’s Ava Simms. She’s a friend and colleague. She works wardrobe like I do.
“Yello!” I sing cheerily to her.
I hear her laugh.
“Charly, do you ever answer the phone like a normal person?”
“Why would I when I can answer so colorfully?” I say in a puzzled tone, making her laugh again. “How you doing?” I ask.
“Good,” she says.
But I can tell from her tone that she’s not good at all. We might not be super close, like Nick and I are, but I know her well enough to know when something is wrong. I just hope it isn’t that prick of a so-called boyfriend of hers. The one she moved across the country to be with. Honestly, I can’t imagine leaving New York to move to LA for any guy. Especially not an out-of-work actor who sidelines as a hand model and thinks he’s God’s gift to women.
I don’t know what Ava sees in that guy. Granted, he’s good-looking, but he’s a dick, and she could do a million times better.
“What’s up?” I ask.
“Are you still in Nashville?”
Okay. Not the answer I was expecting but whatever.
“Nope. I just landed in JFK.” I smile to myself, looking forward to having the week off that I booked in for myself. I haven’t had any time off in…forever, and even though I’m not rich, I have enough money in the bank to allow myself a week of doing nothing. “I’m actually walking through the airport as we speak, heading to grab a cab home. Why?”
“Well…I haven’t had a chance to tell you, but I landed a job on this big-budget movie, and I’m the wardrobe mistress—”
“Really? Congrats! That’s great, Ava!”
Wardrobe mistress is a promotion for Ava, who was a wardrobe assistant like me. She’s been in the business longer than I have though, so I can’t envy her promotion.
“Well…the thing is, I was wondering if you would want to come and work with me.”
“When?” I have a job lined up in wardrobe on a small Broadway play after my weeklong break, but if it’s after that, then I can do it.
“Well…tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” I yell in surprise.
“Yeah, I know it’s short notice—”
“No kidding. Hang on, am I an add-on? Did someone drop out, and you need me to fill in?”
Silence.
I can practically hear her wince.
“Ava?”
“It’s not as bad as you’re making it sound. I knew you were already working up in Nashville on Rollers, so I hired Millie Reed—”
“Millie Reed?”
“I know you don’t like her—”
“She screwed Michael.”
“After you dumped him.”
“I know, but that’s not the point. She was supposed to be a friend. You know, girl code and all that.”
“You two were never friends; you just worked together.” She laughs. “I remember what you said the first day after you worked with her. You said she was useless.”
“She is useless. She’s a crap seamstress. She sewed all the buttons on a shirt the wrong way—rookie mistake.”
“Well, she was available—”
“She always is.”
“And you weren’t,” Ava continues seamlessly. “I would have asked you first; you know that. But, with the timing, I knew you wouldn’t be able to do it, so I asked Millie, and…”
“What happened?”
“I’m not sure. I just got a call this morning from Vaughn’s manager, telling me to fire her. Apparently, she was incompetent.”
“She probably tried to screw him, too,” I mutter. “Hang on, Vaughn? As in—”
“Vaughn West. Oh, yes.”
“Oh my God,” I breathe.
Vaughn West.
Vaughn. West.
I can’t say I’m not excited at hearing that name. I’ve worked with a lot of celebrities, but Vaughn West is a whole different caliber of celebrity. Aside from being off-the-charts hot—dark blond hair, hazel-brown eyes, and a body made for sex…let’s just say that Vaughn has starred in a lot of my late-night fantasies. I might have a teeny-tiny crush on him.
But not only is he gorgeous, he’s also a great actor. To be able to see him in action would be amazing.
“What’s he like?” I have to ask.
“Gorgeous, of course. I’ve only met him twice, and each time was brief, but he seems like a nice guy.”